This invention relates to photographic apparatus and more particularly, it concerns an instant camera and film assembly by which positive film transparencies are provided with a pocket-size camera in which photographic film is exposed, processed and the resulting transparency viewed without removal of the film assembly from the camera.
Small or pocket-size photographic cameras are popular among travelers and other amateur photographers who are disinclined to the bother of carrying or handling photographic equipment which detracts from personal enjoyment of a vacation or entertainment objective. Camera miniaturization, however, is not without compromise either of camera cost, quality of pictures taken or both. In connection with picture quality, instant cameras are often preferred by travelers because of the facility they offer for retaking an important scene to assure the photographer of attaining the photograph he or she desires.
Heretofore, instant cameras have been bulky in the context of miniature cameras principally because of their design to accommodate a positive print format of a size much larger than the negative size format of a small camera in which the film is exposed for subsequent laboratory processing. However, photographic films are now available which may be exposed and processed to provide a viewable positive transparency after application of a thin layer of processing fluid over the exposed film. Such film is exemplified by the cassette-contained film strip used in an instant motion picture system commercially available under the name "POLAVISION", a registered trademark of Polaroid Corporation, Cambridge, Massachusetts. The "POLAVISION" film is processed after exposure merely by rewinding the film strip so that it passes under a cassette-contained supply of processing fluid to coat the light sensitive chemicals of the strip with a thin layer of the processing fluid. After a short imbibition period during which the processing fluid reacts with the exposed chemical layers on the film strip, the film strip may be projected for viewing.
In light of such recent developments of instantly processable photographic film, there exists a potential for miniature still cameras by which a photographer may expose and process a plurality of positive image frames on a film strip of the type mentioned. To achieve the full advantages of instant photography, however, it is necessary that each image frame be processed after exposure to allow the photographer to rephotograph a subject in the event the first photograph was inadequate. A continuous film strip of the type used in "POLAVISION" would not provide this capability.